The Trump administration reportedly wants the U.S. Supreme Court to allow its ban on transgender people serving in the military to go into effect immediately.
According to multiple outlets, the Department of Justice's solicitor general asked the justices to temporarily block injunctions from lower courts that are keeping the administration from enforcing the policy.
The DOJ's already filed a request for the Supreme Court to hear cases regarding the ban this term, effectively leap-frogging scheduled appeals in lower courts.
President Donald Trump signed a memo in August 2017, barring openly transgender people from enlisting in the military and halting the use of government funds for "sex-reassignment surgical procedures."
Since then, federal judges have granted injunctions against the ban — halting its implementation until the separate cases are resolved in court. The White House issued a revised ban in March, which judges also blocked.
It's unknown exactly how many service members are transgender. But as Newsy's previously reported, estimates say at the most, transgender people account for less than 2 percent of the U.S. military, including reserve forces.
Additional reporting from Newsy affiliate CNN.
